Rock on

Chapter 28

Peridot's POV:

Lapis and I walked upward on the cobblestone path that led to the front sliding door that entered the house. I quickly moved in front of Lapis, trying to hold open the glass door so that she could walk by easily. Lapis gave a thoughtful smile as she walked into the living room. I followed in after. We stood there for a second, searching for Miss Tiffany, but there was no sight of her. "That's strange, I'm sure she should be here somewhere," Lapis said as she peeked around corners of the house to see if she could see her mother hiding behind some. I helped scan around for her, looking up the stairs and at the back door. Just as I was about to walk away from the front door, a small window right next to the door caught my attention with movement from the other side. It was Miss Tiffany and... which looked an awful lot like Lapis' father.

My eyes shot wide, I held my hands over my mouth, and bent down to the ground so that I was not visible to anyone from the other side. Lapis was upstairs calling for her mother, but it was faint enough for Lapis' parents not to hear her. There was no point in calling Lapis down from here; they would hear me. Just as I wanted to sneak away from the door, I heard slightly muffled words coming from the other side of the door. I wasn't exactly sure what they were saying, but I could make out most of it. I pressed my ear against the door in curiosity.

Tiffany, "You have no right to be here, Liam!"

???, "I have every right to be here! My daughter is in there, and I haven't seen her in almost a year and a half, Tiffany!"

Tiffany, "She's not your daughter anymore!"

Tiffany, "You pretend to be all nice and sentimental every time you come over, check in on me, and want to hear about your so-called 'daughter.' Pathetic! We all know you're just a fraud, Liam! And when was the last time you tried to contact your daughter, huh?"

Liam, "I was always too scared to see her face to face again! You know this. But I'm ready, just to say hello to my Lapis."

My theory was correct; this was Lapis' father, and it almost sounded like he wanted to start bursting out in tears right then and there too. I frowned; now I was really invested in the conversation, even if I wasn't connected to it in any way.

???: "She is my daughter too! I have the right to just greet her, Tiffany!"

Tiffany: "Try it, old man, or I'll call the cops for trespassing on private property."

???: "Y-you can't do that! I'm the kid's father, I live here too!"

Tiffany: "Oh yeah? And who do you think they will believe? An innocent woman who's just looking out for her daughter or an old, scrawny man who's barging on her door?"

Am I hearing this correctly? Was Lapis' mom threatening to call the cops on a man who just wants to see his daughter for the first time in more than a year?! This is absurd. If Tiffany doesn't have final custody of Lapis, even though she's an adult, she doesn't have the right to make threats like those. And ultimately, she's right; a middle-aged man pleading to see someone that the mother says he has no idea about is very suspicious. But that doesn't sound right... this isn't right. I have to go tell Lapis!

Right before I wanted to dart off, my clumsiness got the best of me and I tripped over a scrunched-up rug under my feet. A nervous gasp came from my mouth as I scanned for a place to scamper behind, but it was too late. Miss Tiffany had already slammed the door behind me and was now hovering over my body. "Were you spying on us, Peridot?" Tiffany said with a harsh and cold tone, not her normal sweet and cheery one. "Tiffany, I, uh..." Before I could plead for my life, I was grabbed by the scruff by Lapis' mother as she hunched down to my face. "If you dare speak a word to Lapis of anything you have just heard, or anything that's happening between us at the moment, I will make sure you never get close to my daughter again," Tiffany said, inches away from my face. I felt like I could hear her teeth gritting under her breath.

I nodded slowly, sweating and shaking. I never knew Lapis' mother could be this intimidating. "Good. Get up," she said as she got off me and dusted herself off. And, for even more perfect timing, I heard a delighted voice coming from behind me. "Oh hey, Mom, we were looking for you yo- Peridot? Why are you on the floor?" Lapis said as she walked down the stairs and spotted me on the ground helplessly. She quickly hurried over to help me back on my feet but still waited for an answer. "I-I uhm..." I took a quick glance back at Miss Tiffany, who almost had a twitching eye as she listened to my next words carefully.

"I-I fell..." I said, defeated, my head hanging low and my feet shuffling against one another uncomfortably. "Yes! She tripped! Oh, you silly goose!" Lapis' mom said as she placed her hand on my head and ruffled my hair in a messy circular rotation. I felt my blood boiling. It took me ages to get the perfect shape I wanted for my hair, so that I could impress Lapis, not for some middle-aged woman to come and mess it up! But Lapis sensed nothing of it; she only gave a little snort laugh and pulled me to her side. "Well, I wanted to ask if you wanted to leave? It's getting pretty dark already, so if you want to, you can stay," Lapis said as she turned herself towards me with a soft gaze in my eyes. I'm leaning towards her, wanting me to say yes. And I would love it if I could stay. But with her mother around, I wasn't sure if I was even safe anymore...

"Uhh..." I said softly as I took a glance at Tiffany. Her eyes were narrowed in my direction; she didn't look like she wanted my company here. But I'm not going to let someone ruffle up my hair and tell me what to do, even if it's just with her eyes. "Sure, I can stay for tonight," I said with pride and cockiness as I held Lapis' hands. "Great! If you'd like, we can share a bed, or I can sleep on the floor," Lapis offered with a chirpy voice. "No need, one bed is fine," I said with a smile in return. I took another glance at Lapis' mother, who decided to move away from the conversation and make another cup of tea for her own liking. "Okay, you can lend some of my clothes, I bought enough," Lapis said with a little stretch. "Mom, we're saying goodnight. Tomorrow we'll catch up a bit more, okay?" Lapis said over my shoulder, hoping for a quick reply so that she could head to bed. "Of course, honey, goodnight! You too, Peridot," Tiffany had said with a bit of a colder tone for the last sentence, which made me shiver. But I shook it off.

What was I going to do? I have to tell Lapis about what I heard, but if I do, I might never be able to see Lapis again. "GAH!" I felt a tap on my shoulder as I faced the wall. "Whoa, jumpy today? I just wanted to say you can turn around now," Lapis said, taking a step back from my sudden fright. "Oh, sorry," I said as I shuffled around to face Lapis from the bed after she had dressed in pajamas. "You okay?" Lapis asked as she kneeled down on the floor and faced my face softly. I got a sudden nervousness in my stomach. I really wanted to tell her about the whole conversation I had overheard; I wanted to tell her that I loved her too! So many things I want to tell her! "Peridot?" Lapis asked again, snapping me out of my trance. "Oh yeah, I'm fine," I said with a gummy smile, trying to sound as convincing as I could. "Uh huh, okay then," Lapis said as she took her seat next to me on the bed.

There was a moment of silence in the air. Crickets chirped from outside, and the moon was almost full. "Take a look at this," Lapis said as she stood up once again and walked over to the light switch. She gently flicked it off, and neon green stars that were plastered against the wall made themselves known in the dark. "Wow," I said with amazed eyes. I didn't feel Lapis sneak up behind me and scare me, which made me flick with a tickle tactic she used on my shoulder. Lapis giggled as she then placed an extra glow-in-the-dark star on my nose when I turned around to face her. It took me a second to realise something was sticking to my nose. I was getting my irritated bubble tantrum ready before Lapis decided to hit me on the head with a pillow. "Hey!" I yelped. I decided to hit back to make it even, which only ended up in a 2-minute pillow fight.

Once we were too exhausted to continue, we both fell on our backs with the remaining pillows that were still neatly placed on the bed. It took us a few seconds to catch our breaths. Suddenly, Lapis burst out laughing, with little snorts in between. I couldn't help but join in after realizing she was laughing. Once the laughter had died down, we both decided to take it easy for the rest of the night, to try and get some sleep before tomorrow. Everything felt calm and warm. I then slowly felt Lapis' pinkie finger slide across my hand's palm carefully and gently. She said nothing, but nothing needed to be said. I lowered my hand to meet her finger with mine, intertwining them until we both fell asleep.

[☆ Dun, dun, dun! Plot twist! ☆]

(1740 Words)